The Duke

And I'm not talking about John Wayne (also a style icon in his own right). No, I mean the Duke of Windsor, that source of style originality and perfection. He was the man that men of his time would look to for sartorial inspiration: the style icon of the period.

And his closet shows us why.

So, let's dig into the Duke's closet. The following photos are from Sotheby's catalog of the Duke's estate sale after his passing.

Click to enlarge photos.

The Duke's dressing room at the Paris residence with a suit in medium weight worsted with darker blue checking. The jacket is dated 16/11/56 by Scholte, London and the trousers dated 3/4/57 by Harris, New York. Jacket has side vents and substantially padded shoulders.

A double breasted navy wool suit with Grenadier (front buttons) and Welsh Guards Officer (sleeve buttons) buttons, worn on the 1936 Nahlin cruise. Jacket by Scholte, London labelled H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 25.4.31 Made of lightweight navy worsted. The matching pair of trousers were made by Forster & Son, London.

Grey and white ribbed suit with Royal Yacht Squadron buttons. Later inserted side vents. Jacket by Scholte, named and date 1938, and trousers by Forster & Son. The Duke was photographed in the USA in this suit in 1943.

A Tyrolian suit by F. Humhal, Vienna. 1937. Grey Loden cloth with oak leaf appliqué, horn buttons and green piping to trouser side seams.

Prince of Wales check sports suit. Jacket by Scholte and stalking trousers (modified plus-fours) by Forster & Sons. 1923. Altered in the mid 1930s when a zip was inserted. Came with the removable blue cotton plus-four linings we've heard so much about (more on those below).

A rust Harris tweed golfing suit, 11.12.24. Jacket by Scholte, trousers by Forster & Sons. Jacket has a convertible collar for cold weather (I assume this means a button to which the lapel buttonhole fastens). Trousers "cut high in the waist and originally supported by an inner elasticated girdle to maintain a looser hang. The hems curve under to fasten to the cotton plus-four lining.

Pecan brown and beige wool Shepherd's check suit, 1934. Jacket by Scholte, trousers/plus-fours by Forster & Sons. I would say those are crescent hip pockets but i can't be certain.

Check tweed sport suit, and perhaps the greatest suit i've ever laid eyes upon, 1930. Again, the hip pockets would appear to be crescent.

Rothesay Hunting tartan lounge suit with shaw collar. Made in 1897 apparently for his father, George V. re-tailored to fit DoW with a Talon zip added in place of the button fly. Apparently this suit triggered a vogue in tartan in the USA in the 50s.

Hunting Lord of the Isles tartan evening suit. Jacket by Scholte dated 8.6.51, Trousers by Harris, New York. Jacket has side vents.

The morning coat and trousers worn to his wedding, with a different waistcoat. Jacket by Scholte is a herringbone cashmere weave and is marked H.M. The King, 25.1.36. Waistcoat matches the jacket and marked same. The morning trousers are by Forster & Son and marked 9.6.32 This was bought by the CEO of Kiton for $27,600.

A midnight blue worsted formal evening dress suit, 1937. Jacket probably Scholte, trousers by Forster & Son

A dark grey worsted 3-piece morning suit. Jacket and DB waistcoat by Scholte, marked 9.6.31 Trousers by Forster & Son marked 10.6.31

A dark green double-breasted corduroy shawl-collared dinner jacket with Beaufort Hunt buttons. by Scholte, dated 12.10.59 and a pair of H. Harris, New York, trousers in navy herringbone wool and cashmere marked 1.2.56

A beige and Brown houndstooth check suit, 1932. Jacket by Scholte has side vents. Trousers by Forster & Son. (For some reason, the photo was reversed.)

Navy pintripe suit with Royal Yacht Squadron buttons. Jacket by Metzel, New York and trousers by H. Harris, New York, 7.21.44

Two aluminium wallets with town clothes, and one for sports clothes. Inside are paper sheets with swatches of fabric attached. Hand written notes say where each garment is located (NYC, Paris, The Mill (French country retreat)). From the catalogue blurb: "It serves as a very interesting and useful record of his entire wardrobe around 1960 . . . The swatch boxes show that he owned approximately 15 evening suits (of which six remain), over fifty-five lounge suits, of which thirty would have been kept in Paris. Only six or so remain of these, and only five of them relate directly to the swatch boxes. The majority of the formal and Highland dress detailed in the swatch boxes still remains in the collection as the Duke kept most of his formal wear in Paris and his Highland dress at The Mill, where he was fond of wearing it in the evening." This seems to me to be an excellent idea for someone who has multiple residences and a massive wardrobe.

Source of this photo: The London Lounge

Here is that button-in cotton plus-four lining we heard about above, though it doesn't seem to be in the same pair of trousers as described above. These trousers actually appear to be the 1934 Pecan brown and beige wool Shepherd's check suit that was also shown above.

Just one oddity of a man who was very specific and detailed about his clothing.

Photos and descriptions from The London Lounge and The Fedora Lounge.

Fantastic Vintage for Sale...

...at the Houndstooth Haberdashery.  My closet is bursting at the seams so I'm clearing some fine items out to make room for more pieces that will get more wear.

Now it's your turn to own and wear these 'holy grail' vintage pieces.  Or maybe a few pieces will make someone very happy on Christmas day just a month away.

Here are just a few of the suits and sports coats now for sale.

click links to visit sale site and images to enlarge

1930s Donegal herringbone tweed suit

This is a rare and fantastic 2-piece suit from the late 1930s/early 1940s.  Heavy weight tweed, very well tailored, just a fantastic piece to see in person.  This suit will make someone very happy.

Late 1920s/early 1930s 3-piece double breasted suit

This is another very rare suit since suits from this period are getting more difficult to find, especially in good condition and a 'wearable' size like this one.  A few moth holes in the jacket and trousers, they are stitched up, not too apparent and don't take away from this gorgeous suit.  A rare piece of wearable art.

1930s flannel sports coat

The flannel of this sports coat is some of the softest I've ever seen.  This jacket was custom tailored back in the 1930s and the quality shows.  It's a manly and stylish sports coat that will help you dress your best.  Lovely dark maroon pinstripes on a brown background.

1950s bold herringbone sports coat

I just recently found this one for myself but have decided to part with it because it is just a tad too large for me.  My loss is your gain.  You never see one like this again, it's fantastically unique.  Bold, wide herringbone with square patch pockets.  Very Hollywood and it could be yours.  Check it out.

1940s WW2-era suit

A nice, conservative, attractive pinstripe suit from the WW2-era.  Not a lot issues with this suit at all.  It does, however, have a neat 'former' issue.  One part of the right leg has an expertly executed example of reweaving.  Reweaving is the lost art of making a hole invisible by hand-weaving individual threads from another area of the garment into the hole. Let me tell you, the reweaving on this suit is expertly done and is near invisible.  This has been the first and only example of vintage reweaving I've ever seen.  I love this suit but alas, not the best fit so off it goes.

The reweave spot.  Nearly invisible!

I have a lot more high quality pieces that will be going up for sale within the next few days and weeks so keep your eyes glued to this blog as well as the Houndstooth Facebook page.

Cheers,

Will

WIW- the '50s

An early '50s suit I've never worn before. I picked it up at a junk shop for $3. The jacket fit fine but the trousers needed some altering, specifically the waist taken in an inch and the cuffs sacrificed for length plus the addition of faux cuffs.

click to enlarge

This is what I would consider the stereotypical and my 'perfect' early '50s suit: single breasted, iridescent medium blue gabardine fabric, patch pockets and very high waisted trousers with a Hollywood waist (no waistband).


I'm not a huge fan of the "Bold Look", especially in double breasted (something about the low button stance and boxy look of the Bold Look double breasted turns me off), but a single breasted Bold Look suit like this tickles my fancy.

The photo below shows the true color.

click to enlarge

The hat is an early '50s Royal Stetson and the tie is Bold Look era as well.

What Suits You: Three Eras of Suits

Let's look at three suits of mine that I've never shown before. All three are from different decades, so note the styles of each of them. Also note the quality of the fabric, patterns and construction and shape.

In chronological order...

This first suit is what I would consider my 'perfect' suit: 3-piece, double breasted, navy blue material with teal chalkstripes, very nice fit and silhouette. And it fits like a glove.

This suit was made by a very high quality tailoring company that will remain unnamed. Truly, this suit blows away pretty much anything nowadays in terms of quality, bespoke or not. The material and craftsmanship of this suit overshadow the best any modern tailor can offer.

click photos to enlarge

Vest is well shaped with 6 buttons and 4 pockets, as an good vintage vest should.


Also note the great waist suppression on the jacket. The lapels are fairly wide but not yet as wide as some Bold Look lapels were. Very little shoulder padding allows for the wearer's natural shoulder shape to show. The button stance is fairly high compared to other DB jackets from the 1940s and the Bold Look.
Note the unfortunate damage to the right arm.


And the pleated trousers with the 'mandatory' 2" cuffs as the finishing touch.

This photo shows the beautiful fabric pattern of this suit. The harmony between the colors is wonderful.

The damage to the arm. How did such a long group of holes appear? Moth? Dog? Rampaging significant other? What stories this suit could tell?

Next is an early to mid-1940s tweed 2-piece. Again, you won't find fabric like this nowadays. It is surprisingly heavy and drapes wonderfully.

The jacket has medium padding in the shoulders and very nice waist suppression. The lapels are fairly wide, would be even wider had the top button been undone. Like the 1930s suit above, the lapels in the early to mid-1940s were on the wide side before flaring out during the Bold Look of the late 1940s-early 1950s.

The early 1940s weren't all too different from the later half of the 1930s except for the war effort putting a damper on some of the more exotic treatments like belted back, bi-swing backs, the Oxford Bags and the like.

Pleated with cuffs:

Again, no modern material can compare to the quality of this fabric. This is why I collect vintage clothing!

Last but certainly not least is this mid-1950s number. Note the heavily padded shoulders and the baggy jacket with little if any shape to it. Also note the 3 patch pockets. While pockets like these were popular on certain suits and jackets during the 1930s and 1940s, patch pockets boomed in the 1950s. They add to an already casual atmosphere.

The lapels are starting to narrow down again as the Bold Look died off.

Also note the very low button stance compared to the two suits above.

Trousers are still pleated with cuffs like the suits above.

But those are not the most important things about this suit. That award goes to the fabric: nubby 'Atomic Fleck'. The colors are truly amazing. The bluish gray background dances with white, medium blue and teal nubby flecks. This is a fairly rare Atomic Fleck pattern.

Hopefully this has given you a glimpse of the different eras of suits of the Golden Era. Unfortunately it was only a glimpse, for a deeper understanding of such things comes only from the touching, handling and wearing of original pieces.